At the end of this interminably long freak-show, I could hear not one but several such angry outbursts pouring forth in the theater.

Unrelenting Savagery
I admit I had deep forebodings even as I entered the theater. The little I had seen of this fella Vishal had not enthused me a great deal. But little did I comprehend the unrelenting savagery in store for me.

From the very first frame till some three hours later, when the surreal nightmare ended, Vishal assaults your senses mercilessly, leaving you gasping for breath.

Breath does come, in intermittent spurts, in the form of the three hot girls Tejaswini (Neetu Chandra), Jyoti (Tanushree Dutta) and Priya (Sarah-Jane Dias). But no sooner do we rest our wounded eyes on these beauties than we are pummeled back into our state of wretchedness as Vishal, with his I-am-the-resident-baboon style, wanders around hopelessly trying to convince us he is a playboy.

Drivel of a Plot
The story, like many other things in this film, is so outrageously preposterous that it staggers the mind. The film has hardly started, and immediately the unwitting audience are sold crap about how Karthik (Vishal) is a guy who wants the best in everything he desires, and he now wants a wife. So Karthik decides to simultaneously fall in love with three beautiful girls and then choose one to his liking.

As a battle-hardened audience try to digest this drivel of a plot, Vishal sets off on his “wooing” spree, dealing mortal blows to the by-now brain-numbed audience along the way. Bereft of even the most basic acting skills, this fella would fail to get even a single paisa were he to, one day, beg for alms. It beggars belief how such nincompoops without a shred of talent manage to survive, that too as hero, in an industry where one failure can spell the end of your career.

True to all Tamil films, the pretty dames fall head-over-heels in love with Karthik and respond positively to his advances (korangu saettai).

One of them, Tejaswini, has a stinking rich father who, upon investigation, finds out what Karthik is up to, and reveals all to his daughter. Tejaswini then confronts Karthik with the truth and receives pathetic bluster in response, to the effect that, since she knew what his motives were, she had been rejected as a potential choice in the “race” to become Karthik’s wife.

Just when you think it has reached the nadir of nonsense, the Director (a choose-your-expletive by the name of Thiru) jumps up on you with the information that all this is but a build-up to the second half which will feature a skimpily-clad Neetu Chandra trying to put a spanner in Vishal’s works by exposing his multiple love-lives to his other two girlfriends. Much as Neetu’s skin-show is a balm for your tired eyes, it’s poor compensation for the arrant nonsense unraveling on the screen.

From nowhere, Prakash Raj springs out, introducing himself as Jyoti’s protective katta-panjaayathu-Dada-type brother who will chop off Karthik’s hands if he is seen publicly with any other girl. Why in the world an accomplished actor like Prakash Raj would stoop to accept this abominably sketched caricature is beyond human reasoning.

The tortuous plot ploughs on at an even more leisurely pace from here on, oblivious to remonstrances from aggrieved members of the audience.

The brief facts being: Tejaswini proves Karthik’s duplicity to Jyoti.

Both of them try to enlighten Priya, but Priya, being rather low on gray matter, chooses to believe in Karthik’s innocence and goes all lovey-dovey on him. When Karthik tries to confess, Prakash Raj barges in to do the honors, and, in the process, beats the hell out of Karthik.

Wholly Meritless
The end, mercifully, does come, but not before, some more bullshit is thrown at us by way of Karthik landing himself in an accident and the doctor (after some ridiculously silly shots of peering at x-rays) falsely diagnosing that he has lost all his memory.

Overall, this movie is a piece of shit with no merit whatsoever.

The acting sucks, the music sucks (Yuvan Shankar raja being the culprit), and the story sucks big-time.

If, despite reading this review, you steel yourself and watch this movie, you are the sucker.

Story:
The story is about a carefree,fun-loving Casanova guy Karthik(Vishal) who loves three women(Sarah,tanushree and Neetu).But he wishes to select one of these three people as his would-be or wife.The logic behind it is that he always wants the best out of three in everything from pen to women!!What a stupid logic he says to connect the two??
Sarah plays the role of Priya, a young girl who believes in true love and finding happiness in the same.She believes in marriage only through mutual understanding and true love.
Actually,the first plus point of the film is the way she has perfectly portrayed the character.Even though the character is foolish and a bit naive in believing Karthik,beginning from start to a point when the other two girls (Tejashwani and Jyothi played by Neetu and Tanushree) try to convince her that Karthik(Vishal) is a bad guy.At this point,even when Karthik(Vishal) asks why she doesn’t believe what they both are saying,she responds saying that “True love never doubts”.
Sarah has portrayed the character perfectly and with great sensibility,but at the same time she is also guilty of certain weak expressions and over-acting in important scenes.
The second plus point of the movie is Neetu Chandra who has portrayed the characted of a rich woman Tejashwini with greater perfection and ease.The confrontation scenes that she has with Vishal after knowing his true nature is really the highlight of the film.They both play a cat and mouse game in the film to outwit each other.
The third plus point of the brilliant comedy of the trio of Santhanam,Mayilsamy and Sathyan which is both pleasant and devoid of any vulgarity.It has also some realistic and witty dialogues.
The fourth plus point of the film is the way the characters of these girls are presented by the director.The lifestyles of a rich girl(Tejashwini),an upper middle class girl(Priya) and a lower middle class girl(Jyothi) is presented with great finesse and perfection.
The last and the final plus point of the film is Vishal’s acting.He has acted like a man possessed with a great knowledge of the character and plays a romantic hero/villain with great ease.
Minuses:
The first half of the film though entertaining because of good comedy falls short of any substance because of too many songs.Also many scenes are too absurdly portrayed like the parents of Karthik talking to the audiences via camera.I do not know whether it is the director’s idea,but even though it is innovative,does not come across as natural acting.It certainly does not make and impact on the audience.
Because of lack of even a little substance in the first half,the film falls a bit short.It could be seen that the first half could be even irritating because of the same reason.
The second big minus is Tanushree Dhatta’s acting and her portrayal of the character Jyothi.She fails on her expressions and falls way short of making an impact.
The third big minus is the direction and the lack of logic.The director has stumbled in his thoughts, at times projecting Vishal as a romantic hero and at times an action hero.Clarity in his thoughts was the need of the hour.Even though he could be excused for being a debut director and that Vishal has a mass-hero image which he tried to exploit,really something different was expected from this director!!Sad to say,he completely disappoints me.
And even though he has a great message driven story to enhance his directorial credentials,his presentation and weak screenplay is very faulty.In that way,he lets go of the advantage.The lack of logic could be clearly seen in the last scene where Vishal has a severe road accident and the final ending shows the guy in a very healthy state,with no damage to his brain even though he had head injuries! Not very funny.
The music of Yuvan Shankar Raja as a whole fails to make an impact,except for the tracks “Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai” and “Poo Mudhal”.The track “En Aasai Ethiraliye” is good,but could have been better.
Overall,the film fails to make any impact because of the screenplay,direction and some poor acting inspite of the some good plus points(that I have mentioned) and a great story.
The justification of the character Karthik of his mistake of dating three woman by saying that “Even woman do like that” is absurd.A wrong cannot be made right by justifying another person’s mistake.The dialogues are very witty at some places,which is good.
Salient plus point:
The chemistry between Sarah and Vishal is very excellent.It would have very nice if the same director had made a love story involving only these two!!

VERDICT:

IS SOMEWHAT WATCHABLE,IF YOU HAVE LITTLE PATIENCE WHICH I SUPPOSE NOT MANY WOULD HAVE.

RATING:

1.5 OR 2 OUT OF 5.
SUITABLE FOR LOVERS OF MASS HERO MOVIES AND VISHAL FANS.

PERSONAL REVIEW:

WATCHED IT AT INOX IN CHENNAI.SEAT OCCUPANCY VERY POOR FOR A THIRD WEEK FILM(140 OUT OF 280). SOME PEOPLE WERE NOT HAPPY AND SOME WERE PASSING COMMENTS.

WASTED 200 RUPEES FOR THIS BAD FILM, ANGRY THAT I HAVE SEEN A BAD TAMIL FILM.HAVING A POOR OPINION OF TAMIL FILMS AND ITS DIRECTORS AFTER WATCHING THIS FILM AND WILL NOT TAKE A CHANCE OF WATCHING A TAMIL FILM IN A THEATER AGAIN.

STATUTORY WARNING:

CAN LEAD TO HAIR LOSS IF ONE WATCHES THE FILM)LaxXF.YOUR ENJOYMENT WILL DISAPPEAR AND ONE WILL EVEN THINK OF COMMITTING SUICIDE AFTER WATCHING THIS FILM.

3. You write: The last and the final plus point of the film is Vishal’s acting.He has acted like a man possessed with a great knowledge of the character and plays a romantic hero/villain with great ease.

Why are we skeptical of this point. 🙁

Mr.S February 13, 2010 at 3:40 pm

Lost my other user name (pseudopseudohypoparathyroidism), but who cares!

Thanks for the neat review, Racer44. You know, you’re competing with the undeniably, unbeatable reviews of Search India.

Now to the Theeratha Vilayattu Pillai review.. one could have easily guessed about Vishal’s performance in the film after movies like Satyam. Sun Pictures is advertising the movie with a tag saying “running successfully” and it’s sure doing the thing!

To Search India – you’re losing your charm, you review or you don’t review. No need for a third party!

SearchIndia.com Responds:

You write above: To Search India – you’re losing your charm, you review or you don’t review. No need for a third party!

The third party (Racer44) came in because TVP did not release in the U.S. this week.

No such thing. It is neither my wish, nor inclination, to imitate SI. Just that TVP was a movie that deserved all the bashing. And you obviously didn’t read my disclaimer piece posted under SI’s kedi review:

“@all SI readers
I am just a part-timer filling in when the regular can’t make it. I try to be as fair as i can and, at the same time,be interesting. So guys, please put up with me for a little while and be kind. This is my humble request.”

Mr.S February 14, 2010 at 6:38 am

I don’t know. I don’t go to Tamil movies, they come to me!

SearchIndia.com Responds:

Oh, la la la.

What else/who else comes to you? 😉

yourmate February 13, 2010 at 5:17 pm

“It beggars belief how such nincompoops without a shred of talent manage to survive, that too as hero, in an industry where one failure can spell the end of your career”

Not sure if you know, Vishal’s father is a big producer. But going by the list of flops he is offering he may soon become an ex-producer. I am not sure if any of you guys have seen Vishal’s elder brother (Ajay) act, he did a couple of movies (One with Sivaji Ganesan 🙂 Poor Sivaji he was almost like a walking skeleton in that movie) and both of them were super duper flops. He is now married to shreya reddy. Now that Ajay is not acting, he is taking his revenge upon the audience by producing crap movies like Thoranai, Satyam and TVP.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

You write above: Not sure if you know, Vishal’s father is a big producer. But going by the list of flops he is offering he may soon become an ex-producer.

From your lips to Lord Muruga’s ears. 😉

racer44 February 13, 2010 at 10:51 pm

“Vishal’s father is a big producer.”

That explains it. If producers/directors/actors/other-rich-filmi-fellas would stick to their jobs and stop diverting their efforts into launching sons and daughters, Tamil audiences will be very grateful.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

That’s unlikely to happen.

Films, like politics, is a family business in India. More so in Bollywood.

In Kollywood, Rajinikanth is probably the last outsider who made it big.

Rajinikanth and Shahrukh Khan (and Akshay Kumar, to a lesser extent) are likely the last fellas to break through the glass ceiling.

TrulySiva February 16, 2010 at 10:41 am

Vikram can also be added to the list in Tamil

SearchIndia.com Responds:

Just sugar-daddy, eh? 😉

racer44 February 13, 2010 at 11:28 pm

“Shahrukh Khan”

Oh, come on. You are probably the last person unaware of the fact that he was one among the several muslims who were deliberately promoted, financed and backed by Dawood Ibrahim to build muslim-psedosecularist hegemony over bollywood. Him, Salman Khan and many other smaller fries.

I heard Shahrukh himself has apologised to Dawood Ibrahim once for not having done “enough” to bring up other muslims like himself and promised to “help” out more muslims in the future. This was admitted by Shahrukh himself in an autobiography (I think the one by anupama chopra). And Dawood Ibrahim has succeeded because of the lobotomized hindus, some of whom who are afraid to be labelled as “communal” if they dare to speak out.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

1. You write above: I heard Shahrukh himself has apologised to Dawood Ibrahim once for not having done “enough” to bring up other muslims like himself and promised to “help” out more muslims in the future. This was admitted by Shahrukh himself in an autobiography (I think the one by anupama chopra)

However, we do NOT recollect reading the point you mention above (but since it’s more than 2+ years plus since we read the book we’ll check it tomorrow to make sure and if we’re wrong we’ll update this comment).

2. Dawood and the other underworld ‘Bhais’ are believed to be involved in financing a host of Bollywood films. We are not sure if they focus exclusively on ‘Muslim’ Bollywood stars.

3. You write: Oh, come on. You are probably the last person unaware of the fact that he was one among the several muslims…

Hearsay cannot become facts. We need credible links.

logu February 13, 2010 at 11:42 pm

As I’ve told you in one of my earlier comments if the movie is released by Sun pictures , they’ll definitely ensure it atleast fetches a minimum profit…. the marans and stalins with all their powers have their presence almost in all the businesses in southindia… so be it theeratha vilayattu pillai or theeratha t******* pillai it doesn’t matter

BTW, Vishal is new kiss of death in tamil movies, he’s givin Vijay and Ajith a great run for the ultimate title….

SearchIndia.com Responds:

We think the Indian movie industry is now faced with a conundrum.

On the one hand, we have a middle and upper class exposed to classy films like Inglorious Basterds, Avatar, Sherlock Holmeset al and want similar Indian movies. This class, once small, seems to be growing exponentially.

Then we have the Indians in the hinterlands, who inhabit a different universe.

How do Indian film-makers reconcile the diverging tastes/preferences of the two groups.

True, the gap or divide between the two Indias is not new but we believe it’s widening lately.

racer44 February 14, 2010 at 2:04 am

“we have a middle and upper class exposed to classy films like Inglorious Basterds, Avatar, Sherlock Holmes et al and want similar Indian movies. This class, once small, seems to be growing exponentially.”

Only Avatar was widely seen, and that too only for its 3D effect and the graphics. Otherwise, same-old white-guilt trash. Inglourious basterds and Sherlock holmes each managed just single shows (that too, for a couple of weeks) at some multiplexes, and not even that at others. And not one single-screen.

Saw inglourious basterds, btw. Classic movie. There is this palpable tension beneath the length dialogs typical of tarantino films. Great peformances from Waltz, Pitt, Melanie Laurent and the guy who played Frederick Zoller. The last twist in the tale, when Zoller shoots Shosanna when she approaches his bullet-ridden body with pity(or love maybe), was beautifully shot with some great bgm to boot. It also showed that the audience would be very foolish to assume any character in a tarantino movie as a dummkopf.

SearchIndia.com Responds:

Christoph Waltz is a strong contender for the Oscar.

racer44 February 14, 2010 at 12:08 am

I too got this information a long time back, when a biography of SRK was released. I merely surmise that it is Anupama chopra’s since it is the most famous one, although other less-know biographies undoubtedly exist. I only recall reading about it in some newspaper and feeling rather shocked at the unholy nexus.

SRINIVAS February 14, 2010 at 9:40 am

let me rephrase my earlier sentence ………..considering Vishal’s last two releases (Thoranai and Satyam), i went with no expectations ………..

I think he is a decent actor ………I liked Thimiru and Sivapathigaram ………TVP …….first half is breezy ……….second half drags a bit ………

Santham’s witty one liners …Yuvan’s Music ….and the overall script ……….Sarah Jane Dias is good …….but this is clean movie …….so i saw it again ……..

Indiaglitz review would best reflect ………why many of us liked the movie ……..

As Srinivas mentioned, he does come up with the occasional witty one-liner, but having seen Vivek in Minnale and Paaliathu amman and Vadivelu in Winner and Vetrikkodikattu, I didn’t find Santhanam too impressive.

Doesn’t exactly bring out the rip-roaring laughter, you know. And you need plenty of that in a movie like TVP inhabited by loonies of all kinds.

kd36939 February 21, 2010 at 7:11 pm

racer, i am a true sucker.

is there a way i copyright my name so that shit-eaters like vishal cannot use it in movie? 😐